This page brought to you by
Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch, Inc.
P.O. Box 566• Amelia Island FL 32035
For more information please call us at (904) 261-2697 or (904) 583-1913

 

Loggerhead (Caretta Caretta) hatchlings

AMELIA ISLAND SEA TURTLE WATCH The Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch, Inc. (AISTW) was formed in 1985 to integrate a variety of activities focused on the conservation of Amelia Island's nesting sea turtle population.  The original group was spawned from and interest of Greenpeace and the Florida Department of Natural Resources (FDNR) to determine the status of sea turtle nesting activity on Amelia Island.  Greenpeace supported the group until 1988 when we became incorporated. We are motivated by concern over the decline in nesting sea turtles brought on by commercial, developmental, and recreational pressures and a sense of responsibility to moderate the adverse impact of human activities along our shore.  AISTW's primary function is to survey Amelia Island's beaches during May through October, the months of sea turtle nesting and hatchling emergence, to enhance nesting success and to collect accurate data on nesting activity. In May of each year survey areas are assigned to volunteers trained in survey procedures.  Volunteers locate nests, crawls, or stranding s and report to the coordinator.  In areas where vehicular traffic, beach lighting, or beach renourishment activity impacts the viability of nests, clutches are relocated to safer areas of the beach for incubation and monitoring. The data we collected in the early years led to our participation in an Index Nesting Survey project conducted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC), formerly FDNR.  The long-term project collects data from selected beaches along Florida's coast in an effort to determine nesting trends in our sea turtle population. The original project lasted for 10 years, ending in 1998.  The 1999 nesting season began our second decade of participation in this project. We have also participated in a genetic research project by the University of Florida to determine the genetic relationship of sea turtles nesting in Florida.  From this research, it was determined that the sea turtles nesting on Amelia Island are separate family of turtles nesting elsewhere in Florida.  Our population is directly related to turtles nesting in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.  This finding has great implications in conservation effort in Florida and these other states. Central to our endeavor is public awareness of the need for sea turtle conservation.  Slide presentations to schools and community groups, periodic newsletters to supporters, public nest excavations, and reports of our activities in both print and electronic media augment our educational efforts. Our efforts also take an advocacy role.  In 1987 we successfully lobbied for lighting restrictions on both county and city beaches during nesting season.  We still work with governing agencies and beachfront residents to minimize the effects of artificial beachfront lighting on emerging hatchlings. The data we collected in the early years was also instrumental in developing the use of the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) by commercial fishing industry.  Our efforts to alert officials to the high incidence of strandings along our shore fed into a statewide database used to enact commercial fishing regulations in offshore waters. We are asked by the US Army Corps of Engineers to ensure that seat turtle nests are not adversely impacted by summer beach renourishment projects.  We monitor daily activity, document, and relocate clutches laid in areas to be covered by renourished sand. Each year new residents, seasonal visitors and the general public join the AISTW's sea turtle monitoring efforts. We frequently receive calls requesting information on all marine resources. We respond to situations involving marine birds, whales, dolphins, and manatees. Our group has grown over the past 20 years from a core group of about 6 to a group of 14 permitted volunteers and approximately 60 regular volunteers.  As our group grows, our efforts become more consistent and reliable. We have documented as few as 30 nests in a season to as many as 150 nests in another season.  While the numbers of sea turtles nesting each year varies, our efforts have become more consistent and point to flat or even declining trend in loggerhead nesting Our volunteers are on the beach at sunrise everyday from May through August, seeking signs of sea turtle activity the previous night.  Beachfront residents and visitors will frequently meet us on the beach to awe at the sight of a turtle crawl in the sand being lit by the sun peeking over the horizon. We have documented 3 species of turtles nesting on Amelia Island.  Loggerheads, green turtles, and leatherbacks have found Amelia Island a suitable habitat for the incubation of their precious clutches. We truly have a valuable resource and will continue to preserve their most precious part of our natural heritage.

Loggerhead turtle (Caretta Caretta) crawl

Green turtle (Chelonie Mydas) crawl

Loggerhead turtle clutch

Although nest relocation represented the organization's primary seasonal activity during our beginning years, such intervention was considered an interim strategy and was gradually phased out when the negative factors which necessitated relocation were mitigated or eliminated. Relocation is carried out now only in extreme cases. Hoping to reestablish and sustain a stable sea. turtle nesting habitat on Amelia Island, we are concentrating our efforts on the identification, mitigation and elimination of hazards to the habitat.

We are also a part of the stranding and salvage network of Florida FWCC. We document the stranding of dead or injured sea turtles that wash ashore on our beaches and when necessary arrange for medical intervention and rehabilitation for the injured animals by appropriate agencies. This activity is not strictly seasonal. Sea turtles strand on our beaches year round and volunteers are trained to gather pertinent data on these animals and network this information to Florida FWCC. Central to our endeavor is public awareness of the need for sea turtle conservation. Slide presentations to school and community groups, periodic newsletters to supporters, reports of our activities in both print and television media augment our educational efforts. Many of our educational programs hitchhike on the programs offered by national conservation groups. As well, we take an advocacy role that parallels the efforts of both governmental and environmental groups. We have successfully lobbied for lighting restrictions on both county and city beaches during nesting season. We continue to lobby for international sanctions against sea turtle habitat destruction by development and for sustained us of Turtle Excluder Devices(TED's) by commercial fishing trawlers. Locally, our views on the damage to our beach habitat by vehicular traffic to only a small parking area of select beach accesses. The information we gather on nesting and stranded sea turtle is fed into a larger data base catalogued by Florida FWCC. Our activity has helped the scientific community's ongoing research on sea turtle biology and habitat. We have participated directly with genetic research on mitochondria DNA in sea turtle families. This research led to an amazing discovery of 3 distinct families of nesting females on Florida beaches. We are also currently participating in a long term index nesting survey by Florida FWCC and US Fish and Wildlife Service with the goal of determining nesting trends on select beaches throughout Florida. Our survey and intervention has mitigated some potentially negative impacts of on going beach renourishment conducted by the Corps of Engineers and private resort shore stabilization groups. We have been contracted for our assistance in identifying and relocating nests threatened by such renourishment projects. With our compensation, we were able to purchase 2 All-terrain vehicles to be used in our island wide survey efforts. Although the conservation of sea turtles and their habitat is our primary order of work, our volunteers have played vital roles in other areas of conservation. We regularly respond to calls concerning injured birds and transport them to the Bird Emergency Aid and Care Sanctuary (BEAKS) on Big Talbot Island. We were also instrumental in gathering data during the dolphin die-off in 1988 and we still work with the Marine Mammal Stranding network in the event of other stranded dolphins and whales. We continue to work closely with the New England Aquarium each year in their monitoring and conservation efforts of the severely endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. Because of our work in local coastal environmental issues, we were nominated for the TAKE PRIDE IN AMERICA AWARD. We were recognized semi-finalists at an award ceremony in Washington D.C. in September of 1990. Any funds received by our organization are used to maintain our supplies, pay for operational costs of surveys, provide educational information in the form of fact sheets, brochures, newsletters and slide presentations and will continue to be returned to the community through activities that support the integrity of our coastal environment. To report disoriented hatchlings, dead or injured sea turtles call the AISTW or the Florida Marive Patrol at 800-DIAL-FMP Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch, Inc. P.O. Box 566 Amelia Island FL 32035 For more information please call us at (904) 261-2697

 

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